Hungarian Novelist Describes

Life and Death of a Liberal

Reviewed by Harold Wiley Freer

THE ANGRY ANGEL. By Lajos Zilahy. (Prentice-Hall, Inc. $3.95. 375 pp.)

LIBERAL has little chance against extremists,

whether reactionaries on the right or radicals on

the left. For the one he is too radical and for the other he is too conservative. Hence, his life will be taken by either one. But what can a liberal do?

This is the problem in this very compléte novel by Hungary's finjest living novelist. Lajos Zilahy had to flee from his beloved homeland, for neither Nazi nor Communist liked his democratic thinking. He came to this country with his family and will become an American citizen next year. His early novel, "The Dukays,” had a fine reception several years ago.

Although this is a continuation in some ways of the life of the Dukay family, it stands upon its own. It is the story of Mihaly Ursi, married to the younger Dukay countess. As a democrat, he came up out of a mine worker's family; but his brilliance of mind and charm of personality won Zia Dukay.

The novel begins with the fall of Hungary to the Nazi hordes, but goes back into the life of Mihaly to show the growth of his democratic mind. He is editor of a paper and leader of an underground movement that attacks bitterly the growing Nazi influence. His wife's brother, a homosexual, is one of those who see in the Nazi movement a chance for ruthless domination.

Overflowing Hungary, the Nazis kill off all opposition, but Mihaly escapes in the disguise of a villager. Then finally he is discovered and sentenced to be executed. The coming of the Russians forces the Nazis to flee to the west, and Mihaly escapes.

Now he is ready, with the Russians, to bring true freedom to Hungary, but he finds that the Reds do not know the meaning of the word. He is arrested by the Reds and is executed.

This is an overlong novel, but one necessary to show the slow development and the integrity of one who seeks to be a liberal while facing Nazi reactionaries or Communist Leftists. Though it takes place largely in Budapest, in the large scale of Nazi-Soviet intrigue, it is, after all, a picture in larger form of the danger for the liberal in our own country today. Its wealth of insight into the think-

ing of the reactionary and the radical as well as its sympathy for the liberal makes it a book to be read carefully and thoughtfully.

Zilahy writes in the continental style, SO different from most American novelists. The full scale movements and yet the intimacy of the liberal and his family in the revelation of inner thoughts are both there. It is a fine tale, not to be enjoyed, but to be remembered.

THE WOMEN IN GANDHI'S LIFE. By Eleanor Morton. (Dodd, Mead & Co. $4.30 304 pp.)

Miss Morton is a Quaker who started to write a biography of Kasturbai, the child bride of Gandhi, As she gathered together her materials, she found that other women, though playing a lesser part, must also be mentioned.

These others included Olive Schreiner, his friend of African days; Annie Besant, who thought herself almost a goddess; Muriel Lester, the head of Kingsley Settlement House where Gandhi stayed in in England; Madeleine Slade, daughter of a British admiral, who left her native England to become a devoted disciple of the Mahatma, among the westerners. The Indians are Sushila Nayyar of the Brahman cast, Princess Amrit Kaur, Sarojini Naidu and Madam Pandit, sister of Nehru.

This is a remarkably effective book, giving the life history of the developing ideas and insights of Gandhi as revealed in his strange relationships with these utterly devoted women. It is beautifully written, and reads with the fascination of a novel, even in the parts that tell of the deepest political conflicts. Here will be more insight into the ideals of Gandhi.

"The Scarlet Letters," new Ellery Queen novel, will be published by Little, Brown & Co. May 5.